The Pentagon’s super-secretive bomber finally has a name: Raider

The Air Force’s next generation B-21 stealth bomber will be dubbed the “Raider”, a nod to the World War II-era exploits of the Doolittle Raiders.

The Air Force’s secretive and stealthy new bomber has a name, the B-21 Raider, the Air Force announced Monday.

The name was revealed at the end of a video showcasing the Air Force’s strategic bombing past that kicked off the annual Air Force Association meeting in Washington. The Air Force plans to buy 80 to 100 of the bombers to replace the decades-old B-52H Stratofortress and the swing-wing B-1B Lancer. The proposals “captured the essence of the bomber force”, James said. The last surviving member of Doolittle’s Raiders, Lt. Colonel Richard Cole, joined James on stage for the naming announcement, along with the two airmen who had submitted the name.

Lt. Col. Jaime I. Hernandez, 337th Test and Evaluation Squadron commander, Dyess Air Force Base, Texas and Tech.

“American aircraft carriers not only could launch surprise attacks from the seas and [have the planes] land safely in China but could possibly even fly bombers directly from Chinese airfields to attack Japan”, the magazine said on its website past year.

Earlier this year, James unveiled the first image of the bomber and announced a contest to decide on a name.

In the 1942 raid, the then-U.S. The raiders launched their B-25 Mitchell medium bombers from the aircraft carrier USS Hornet on April 18, 1942, striking Tokyo.

Northrop Grumman Corp.NOC 0.23 % previous year won the lead contract to build a fleet of jets to enter service around 2025, with analysts estimating it could cost $80 billion to $100 billion to develop and build a fleet of at least 100 radar-evading bombers, created to deliver weapons and other systems deep into enemy territory.

The B-21 Raider, designed based on a set of requirements that allow the use of existing and mature technology, is now in the Engineering and Manufacturing Development phase and the Air Force plans to field the initial capability of the aircraft in mid-2020s.